Take your bible this morning and turn to Second Corinthians. We find ourselves in chapter 10. We're going to look at the first six verses this morning as we continue to make our way through this epistle verse by verse. Let me read the text to you; and I've entitled my discourse, "Supernatural Soldiering." And hopefully that will make perfect sense, as we understand this passage of Scripture. Second Corinthians 10, beginning in verse one, "Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when sent! I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." 

A cosmic battle has been raging between Satan and God from the very beginning of time. Satan opposes the kingdom of God, and he has done this since the first sin in the cosmos, committed by Satan himself. And soon after that, you have the sin of Adam and Eve, in their temptation in the garden. We read about in Genesis three. Satan, along with his demonic horde has been conducting a guerrilla warfare against the kingdom of God for millennia. And we are currently in that war. And it will continue until the Lord returns. Mankind's only hope is in God's redeeming grace. According to Colossians 1:13, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, that forgiveness of sin." And as a result of that, he causes us to turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God according to Acts 26:18. 

Dear friends, the anti-God world, system that God allows Satan to temporarily control consists of human beings, who are willing subjects of his rule. Men and women, who you might say, mediate his kingdom, Paul describes them in Ephesians 6:12 as "rulers,” “world forces," "this darkness," and the "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And Satan and his demons work through these people. And most of them are unwitting subjects to his rule. And history is replete with men and women who do his bidding. Jesus said of unbelievers, that they are "of their father the devil," and they want to do "the desires" of their father in John 8:44. He went on to say that this father, Satan, was "...a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him." Paul said in Ephesians, four beginning in verse 17, that these people "walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they have become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." 

And certainly, that is a perfect description of the nation in which we live. Our nation is characterized by lawlessness, by darkness, by spiritual death; in contrast with believers, who are characterized by righteousness and light and spiritual life, as Paul describes in Second Corinthians six. And frankly the rancid stench emitted by dead churches within evangelicalism, is now so revolting, that even undiscerning Christians are fleeing from them. Notwithstandingthis exodus, many more are attracted to these apostate churches like flies devouring roadkill on a hot summer day. One of the largest churches here in Nashville, a church called Grace Point, really typifies 1000s of other churches around the country. It typifies the satanic strongholds that masquerade as churches of Jesus Christ. Let me give you a little example on their website. They say, "here at Grace Point we think that faith is less about doctrines and dogmas demanding total agreement and more about life to be lived, enjoyed and shared with others. What unites us is a growing awareness that life is a gift, and love is the point. We want to learn how to love better and share that with the world. We welcome the entire human family regardless of race, age, creed, physical abilities, marital or economic status, gender identity or sexual orientation. Grace Point has led the way in full inclusiveness of the LGBTQ plus community. We are more than," quote, "welcoming."  "We affirm and celebrate. We go beyond," quote, "allowing LGBTQ plus individuals in membership and leadership. We love and depend on one another without any distinction. Many of our staff and community leadership are members of the LGBTQ plus community. Our conviction for inclusiveness is not based on specific loopholes or interpretations of ancient texts, but rather, through a fresh, humble and intellectually honest recognition of both our flawed history and our capacity to continually grow in our understanding of our world, of ourselves and of God." They go on to say, "As progressive Christians, we're open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the Bible. We know that it can't live up to impossible modern standards. We strive to more clearly articulate what Scripture is and isn't." And then they say, "The Bible isn't the Word of God. It's not self-interpreting. It's not a science book, an answer rulebook. It's not inerrant or infallible. But the Bible is," they say, "a product of community. A library of text, multi-vocal, a human response to God, living and dynamic." 

Well, dear friends, sadly, these people are imprisoned in a fortress of deception; opposed to the knowledge of God. And Scripture describes those that shepherd them, that lead them, as those who by "...their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." Romans 16:18. They are described as false teachers, who will, "...secretly introduce destructive heresies." Second Peter two one. Who distort the scripture "...to their own destruction." Second, Peter 3:16. Dear friends, churches like this, and again, there are 1000s of them, preach a false Jesus; a Jesus of their own making. They are idolaters. They preach a man-centered gospel that's all about tolerance and inclusivity. But they know nothing of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, "...the word of the cross is to those who are perishing, foolishness." First Corinthians 1:18. They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. And they hate anyone who sheds the light of truth on the darkness, their darkness of deception. 

I find it interesting, for years liberal apostates who march under this banner today of progressive Christians, have tried to use the Bible to somehow support their heresies and refute those who contradict. And the problem that they have run into, down through the years, is that their positions are so easily refuted exegetically as to make them just ridiculously bogus. They lose all credibility in the eyes of reasonable, rational people who can read. So what have they done? Rather than using the Bible to support their heresies, and discredit the truth, they discredit the Bible altogether. And that's what is happening now. You must understand at a most fundamental level, Satan wants people to believe that there is no divine standard of righteousness. Therefore, there is no judgment. You're fine just the way you are. God loves you just the way you are. So therefore, you're immune to judgment. By the way, this is the same lie of the false prophets that we read about earlier in Jeremiah 23. Peace, peace, they would say, when there is no peace, Jeremiah 23, beginning of verse 16, we read, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise Me, 'The Lord has said, "You will have peace."'; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, 'Calamity will not come to you.' But who was stood in the counsel of the LORD, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?  Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth and wrath, even a whirling tempest; it will swirl down on the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has performed and carried out the purpose of His heart; in the last days, you will clearly understand it.'" 

Beloved, we are warned about apostates all through Scripture. And what's fascinating is that they are going to get worse and worse; there will be more and more of them, and their lies will become more and more appealing, and deceptive. Paul spoke of this in Second Timothy three, verse 13, "But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." And what is even more frightening is that God has abandoned these people, and their doom is sealed. We read this in Hebrews six beginning in verse four, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame." 

Now, if it's not bad enough that we have this going on in the so-called evangelical church, you add to this, the Cultural Marxism that is taking over our country; the gross immorality, the brutal dismemberment of unborn and inconvenient children; all of these things that are now being promoted in our country, especially through the Democratic Party, and the media, and the Hollywood elites, and people even in our public schools, and in our universities and in apostate seminaries. You add all of this together dear friends, and you can begin to understand why Biblical Christianity is so hated, and why it is now politically correct to somehow discredit Christianity; why we are becoming increasingly the target of the canceled culture. This is all part of Satan's strategy to thwart the redemptive purposes of God and bring glory to his name. 

Well, this raises the question, my goodness, how can we possibly fight such a formidable foe? Seems overwhelming, doesn't it? I mean, the deception is is clearly triumphing over truth in our age. It's obvious Satan is clearly winning the battle. Well, indeed he is. And he will continue to win, until Christ returns. However, as we will see, we are not left helpless, we are not defenseless. And by the way, Satan's days are numbered. I was thinking of this this week. Let me read you a passage in Revelation 20. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the 1000 years were completed; after these things, he must be released for a short time." And in verse seven, he goes on, "When the 1000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plane of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." 

Well, this ancient war was something that the apostle Paul was very familiar with. Paul dealt with pagan idolatry, false religions, false teachers, charlatans, even within the church. And frankly, this will be the focus now, from chapters 10 through 13, where he is going to assert his apostolic authority and fight against these people, he is going to strongly confront the false teachers that have infiltrated the church at Corinth in his absence, as well as their sycophants, who gathered around them and remained in the church, even after the majority of the people had repented from their mutiny against the Apostle Paul and the truths that he preached. Not only were these people, this minority, that remained in the church, not only were they liars trying to distort, Paul, but they also espoused deviant philosophies and false doctrines that would appeal to worldly Christians, Christian in name only. It's interesting after a forest fire, the firefighters have to go and look very carefully for what they call invisible ash pits.  Holes, different little caves or whatever where animals had lived, where embers of the forest fire would remain. And if you're not careful, the wind could cause them to once again flare up. This is what we could liken this minority in the church of Corinth to; a small minority were there, and they still needed to be extinguished. And so this is really the focus now of the Apostle Paul. And in these six verses, we learn much about how we can effectively engage the enemy as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And like Paul, we must manifest three important traits. Number one, patient endurance, number two courageous confidence, and number three, skilled swordsmanship. In other words, the ability to effectively wield the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. 

Now, while Paul would never defend himself for his honor alone, he was willing to engage these people and confront these people, for the sake of the truth and the glory of Christ. So as we look at verse one, just stressing the intensely personal nature of his appeal, he begins by saying, "Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness, and gentleness of Christ." Let's pause there for a second. Meekness can be translated gentleness. It's a term that refers to one who is gentle, who is mild, who is even tempered. A person who is patient, and who will humbly endure mistreatment; that's the apostle Paul. But also, he uses the word gentleness. It's a term that can be translated compassion, and it carries the idea of leniency toward offenders. And then he says something interesting, "I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent." This is a reference to a slanderous insult that he had heard, accusing him of being a cowardly person, in person. O, but he was bold on Facebook, right? You know how that works. 

Now remember the history here. Paul spent 20 months, founding the church in Corinth, and then he left the church, then he hears of problems, and so he responds with a letter that is not in the canon of Scripture to correct those problems. And then he hears of more problems. Sohe writes, First Corinthians--that we have here in the canon of Scripture. And then while he's still gone, the wolves arrive. And so he ends up writing what's called "a severe letter" confronting all of them. And that's, again, not recorded in Scripture. And fortunately, that severe letter caused many of them to repent, but not all of them. And so now he is writing Second Corinthians. And his enemies now are; he knows that they're still scornfully criticizing that sternly worded "severe letter." Yeah, let's see him come here and say that to our face. You know, that's the idea. However, what they did, was to misinterpret his gentle humility. They saw him as kind of a wimpy guy, kind of a weak guy, rather than seeing his demeanor as being one motivated out of love and patient endurance, strength under control. 

And this brings us to the very first characteristic: patient endurance. Again, his meek and gentle demeanor is well documented throughout the New Testament. For example, we read in First Corinthians two three, how he described his ministry to them as being quote, with "...weakness and in fear and in much trembling." Obviously, there are times when a shepherd must use his rod, but you don't begin there, and you use it sparingly and reluctantly. There are times to be forcefully assertive, you will remember in Galatians two, Paul withstood Peter to his face because of his hypocrisy, and it would appear that he did this in public. A true friend will love a brother or sister enough to confront them boldly when they see them walking in a direction that will forfeit God's blessing on their life and bring dishonor to the Lord. And a true shepherd will never cower before a wolf or even a pack of wolves. He will run them off. But Paul, who they marked as being meek, when face to face, was no wilting lily dear friends, not at all. He was no sissy-boy coward, shall we say? That was not Paul. I mean, he preached the gospel to hostile crowds. Think of all the beatings and the imprisonments that he endured. Imagine preaching the gospel to the Sanhedrin like he did. That would be like going before Congress and preaching the truth of the gospel. He boldly proclaimed the truth to Roman governors; remember even to King Herod Agrippa and his mocking entourage. Remember, I think it was Festus that said, "You're mad." You know? Even proclaim the truth to Caesar himself. So it would have been easy for him to to go and confront these false teachers and their weak minded sycophants there in Corinth. You know, as we would say, in our vernacular, you know, he ate guys like that for breakfast. I mean, it was just no big deal to him. 

To be sure, Paul knew that he was a divinely appointed and empowered apostle of Jesus Christ. He had the power and the authority of God himself. But what's interesting, like Christ, He was gentle and humble in heart, Matthew 11:29. Virtues, by the way, that did not match Israel's idea of a Messiah King. We would all do well to learn from this example. Remember, Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am what? I am gentle and humble of heart. You want to ask yourself, is that describing me? Or am I one of these loudmouth bullies that likes to intimidate other people when I don't get my way? You know, for a lot of people, conflict resolution is basically, he who yells the loudest and the longest wins. Well, that's not who Paul was. Paul was effective. He was like Jesus. In fact, Peter describes this in First Peter two describing our Lord. He says, "For this finds favor,” beginning of verse 19, "if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept in trusting Himself to Him who judges righteously." So first, we see Paul, manifest patient endurance; something that we would all do well to remember and to manifest as well  when we are in some spiritual confrontation. 

But secondly, he manifested what I would call, courageous confidence. Notice verse two, he says, "I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh." In other words, Paul did not want to be forcefully confronted. He wanted them to repent. But he was not afraid of them. I mean, he had confidence in the power of the Spirit of God and again, he had the the authority of an apostle. Later on in chapter 13, verse 10, he says, "For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down." But again, he would not hesitate to be bold, even face to face, and confront them, if they remained recalcitrant, if they remained a threat to the truth of the gospel. He was ready, according to verse two, here to, "...be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some..." And there he's referring to the false teachers, and those flattering toadies that surrounded him and that were all part of this mutiny. 

And then he says, what they said about him, "...who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh."  Evidently, this was one of the slanderous accusations that was made against them. Dear friends, for a man, or a woman, to walk according to the flesh, rather than the spirit, thatis a serious charge. Romans eight verse five, Paul says, "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds are the things of the flesh, but those according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." Frankly, this is the life of an unbeliever. One whose life is dominated by their flesh; they're ruled by their flesh, by their fallen nature. They live under the authority of their flesh. You might say they are bound in their thoughts and their desires. Such as according to Galatians, 5:19, "...immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and the things like these as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God." I mean, these are the people according to Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse one who were "dead in their trespasses and sins." That's what they were accusing Paul of being; just being a phony. "Who walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. They live in the lusts of their flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature of children of wrath even as the rest." Even Peter describes in Second Peter two 10, as people who "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires." And then Paul says in Philippians 3:19, they are those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things." I mean, my goodness, who would possibly want to trust a man like that? Well, obviously, no one. And that was their point. But Paul knew the truth, he even spoke of this in Second Corinthians 1:12. He said, "For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you."  By the way, that whole statement was specifically aimed at these false teachers who knew that they could not say the same thing. Second Corinthians 2:17, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." 

Over the years, I have had opportunities to encounter and talk with a number of charlatans, both male and female. And I don't say this, to my credit, but to God's credit, I can spot them a mile away. Within just a few minutes, probably not even more than a minute, I can tell what's going on with them. You know what it's like, if you're an expert in a certain field, and somebody says, Oh, that's what I do, too. And you get to talk and all of a sudden, you realize, my goodness, this person is clueless. You know, it's like a neurosurgeon talking to a guy that's only had first aid in high school. I mean, you can tell real quick, there's something going on here--men and women peddling the word of God. By the way, sometimes they're hard to spot. There's a very popular deceased apologist that's in the news lately, who has been exposed as a serial sexual predator. Tragic. Paul said in First Timothy 5:24, "The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment." In other words, with some people, you can spot them right off. But he says, "...for others, their sins follow after." But Paul had no secret life of sin, as his accusers were saying, Second Corinthians four, two, "...we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness, or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience, in the sight of God." 

Dear friends, I hope you can say the same thing. I hope that is your testimony. Because this is the man or the woman that God blesses. So Paul was well equipped and he was well trained to be a soldier of Christ, to engage in spiritual warfare. He was characterized by patient endurance, by courageous confidence in all that God was doing in him, and through the power of his word. But thirdly, he manifested what I would call skilled swordsmanship. Notice verse three, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." By the way, thisis a play on words, this whole flesh deal that's going on here. Again, now they accused him of walking in the flesh, morally. And indeed, we all have some of those tendencies. We all have human limitations, but make no mistake, when it came to combating evil, when it came to spiritual warfare, Paul did not war according to the flesh. The term war, by the way, in the original language is a term used to describe a soldier that's waging war, a soldier in combat, engaging in combat. He says, I don't war according to the flesh. Again, let me remind you, there is a spiritual war going on. There are two opposing kingdoms--the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of God, and then you add to that our flesh; even as believers that's at enmity with the Spirit. But we're not powerless. Notice what he says here. And this starts to get really exciting. 

Verse four, "...for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh..." In other words, what we have to do battle with is supernatural, it's not human, "...but divinely powerful" or supernatural, "...for the destruction of fortresses." The term fortresses in the original language is used to describe a fortified stronghold. Also to describe a prison, and even to describe a tomb, and frankly all three will illustrate Paul's point. Think about this--unbelievers absolutely hate the truth and when they hear it, they retreat into their fortified strongholds of satanic deception. Think how it works. For some people. It's just indifference. I mean, think of all the people you know that drive by Calvary Bible Church, they know we're here and they just think we're a bunch of weirdos. They don't care at all you know; I don't care what they teach, you know, let them do their thing. But then there are others who live in a different type of stronghold that of self-righteousness. Well, I you know, I'm not real sure about who God is, but I know I'm a good person and I'm sure I'll make the cut. Or there's the cultural Christian, they're Christian in name only. Hahaha, yeah, I just love Jesus. But it's this Jesus that they've made up. Or the stronghold, this fortress, of religious affiliation. Yeah, I belong to such and such denomination, so I'm good to go. Over they belong to some cult. And then of course, there are those who have erected these, these fortresses of proud intellectualism that scoff at the gospel. I have encountered many of them over the years in academia, universities, seminary professors, what Paul calls every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And dear friends, the sad thing is, unless these people repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will remain in that fortress of deception. And God will judicially harden their heart and leave them incarcerated in that prison, which will become their eternal tomb. 

Now, how can we effectively fight all of this? These fortresses seem impregnable. Well, the answer in Scripture is we can fight these things, by the power of the Spirit and his Word. The weaponry that we have is the word of God and prayer. You will recall in Paul's great discourse on spiritual warfare in Ephesians, six, he describes this protective armor that we are to wear, but also, he described the two offensive weapons that we have, beginning in verse 17, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And then he goes on to say, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit." This is why Paul said in Romans one and verse 16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel." Why? "For it, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." And he was a skilled swordsman, he knew how to parry the blows of the enemy with the word of God, and it is the word of God, empowered by God, that can blast through the fortresses of satanic deception. 

But I've heard this so many times, but Pastor, how can unbelievers discern truth from error? How do they know what to believe? I mean, after all, the message of Gracepoint and churches like that is far more appealing than the message of Calvary Bible Church. Well, yeah, they are two different gospels, talking about two different Jesus; one saves, one dams. So what causes a person to believe in the truth while the vast majority believe a lie? And beloved, the Scripture answers that very clearly. The answer is sovereign grace. Sovereign grace that imparts the gift of faith to the elect of God, and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. That's the power. I love what Jesus said in John 10, beginning in verse 27, "'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them.'" By the way, by contrast, those who are not a sheep, don't hear his voice and he doesn't know them. Then he says, "'...and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.'" You see, dear friends God uses the supernatural truths of his word to destroy fortresses, these strongholds of satanic deception. 

And he goes on to say, "We are destroying speculations..." Speculations - "logismos" in the original language, which refers to logical conclusions or arguments, presuppositions arrived at by consideration and reasoning. The problem is, the logical considerations of the depraved mind pertaining to God and to salvation are always inherently flawed and faulty, because they're based upon deceptive presuppositions. So what do we do? Do we just give up? What did Paul do? You preach Christ, and Him crucified. There's the power. He said, First Corinthians 1:23, "...to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called," there's sovereign grace, "to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Oh, dear Christian, never underestimate the power of the truth of the word of God. Because that's what the Spirit of God uses to cause us to be born again. Yes, but most people think it's ridiculous. How many times have you heard that or maybe even felt that like, Oh, it's so frustrating. I'm talking to people that seem normal, but they believe spiritually that two plus two is five. I mean, what do you do with that? Well, yes, in the eyes of reason, it seems ridiculous. But dear friends, we cannot consult human reason to understand the supernatural. You must see this; reason can never set in judgment of divine revelation. Yes, but so much of what God has said in his word, it's just absurd to people. Well, yes, it is. I'm sure that's what the Israelites said when God told them to march around the fortress city of Jericho one time for six days. Remember in Joshua six? If you read that text, he says, I want seven priests to carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times and the priest shall blow the trumpets. And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout, with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Now, I would submit to you that no reasonable, rational general would have ever come up with that strategy. Dear friends, reason must always yield to faith. Therein is the power of God. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." That's ridiculous. Well, not for some, it broke through my heart didn't it yours. "The just shall live by faith." Oh, that is so stupid. I mean, no reasonable person would believe that. "He who believes in the Son as eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son," Jesus said, will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Oh, that's silly. That's silly. All roads lead to Rome. We all worship the same God, if there even is one. 

O child of God, for the believer, you must understand that reason will always be instructed and corrected by faith. Because in our humaneness, we have no capacity to see or to understand God; we cannot figure that out. Human cogitation cannot come to a place where we understand God's saving grace and how we are to be redeemed. It's impossible. In fact, when you think about it, all Bible doctrines defy reason. All Bible doctrines defy reason. I mean, can you explain to me creation where God speaks things into existence? Reason tells me he can't do that. How about explain the Incarnation, or sovereign election and human responsibility? Or regeneration? How does God cause someone to be born again and give them a completely new nature? Or the doctrine of justification? Or the doctrine of sanctification? How about the mystery of the Trinity? Use your reason to figure that one out. How about the doctrine of the resurrection? You see reason scoffs at such absurdities, but faith embraces them. And these truths become the very nourishment of our souls. Think about the first work of grace that occurred in your heart when you came to Christ. Suddenly, we could see, what before, we could never see, what reason could never explain. We saw the glory of the cross and the horror of our sin. We suddenly understood the power, the supernatural power, of sovereign grace. Suddenly, all of our logical conclusions about God and salvation were forever destroyed. We came to saving faith like a little child, who just took God at his Word, despite what reason might say. We come to saving faith like a little child, don't we? Matthew 18 three, Jesus said, "'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.'" 

This reminded me of a situation that happened a few months ago, we were in our pickup truck, Nancy and me and little Pepper was in the back, my little granddaughter, who just recently turned six. And all of a sudden, she says, "Papa, how does Jesus get inside your heart?" Boy, that's a fair question. And by the way, isn't that how the little children begin to think, the spirit of God begins to bring these to mind, they begin to inquire Well, no human logic, no human reason, is going to be able to explain the great mysteries of regeneration and justification and sanctification.  So what must happen? Well, faith must eventually instruct reason. Faith will correct reason and cause a spiritual cadaver to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. And so I gave her, I forget some, some little something about, here's how that works. You know, I think I use the example of you know, how much mommy and daddy love you. And aren't they kind of in your heart? Well, yeah. And I said, so there's something that goes on there that we can't fully explain. But what's really amazing is that by the power of God, there's something supernatural that happens when we come to faith in Christ, and he begins to live in us and we live in him. And it was so precious. After I gave her that profound explanation, that defies reason. She said, "Oh, okay." And then she said, "Can we go to Chick fil A?" Is that how it works? That's what faith does, that's the power of God. That's the weaponry that we have with the truth. 

So again, notice what the inspired apostle says, "For though we walk in the flesh." In other words, though, we have these human limitations, "...we don't war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying..." and then he adds this, "...speculations and every lofty thing..." Those unbiblical and sometimes clever, even erudite, scholarly ideologies that people believe. We're destroying all of those things; all of the proud intellectualism of liberal apostates, all of those things raised up against the knowledge of God. Beloved, I want you to remember, although the world hates the truth, and suppresses it in unrighteousness, it also fears it. It fears the truth. That's why believers must be silenced. That's what fuels this cancel culture. That's what fuels authorities to somehow do everything they can to marginalize Christians. Because we have the supernatural weaponry available to us through the word of God and the power of the Spirit, to blast through all of those fortified prejudices, all of those lofty things, all of those speculations, all of those things raised up against the knowledge of God. John MacArthur said it so well quote, "A spiritual war cannot be successfully fought with fleshly weapons. Therefore the weapons in Paul's arsenal were not those of human ingenuity, human ideology or human methodology, human reason, wisdom, plans, strategies, organization, skill, eloquence, marketing, religious showmanship, philosophical or psychological speculation, ritualism pragmatism or mysticism, are all ineffective weapons," against quote, "the forces of the kingdom of darkness, the powers, world forces of this darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). He went on to say, "They cannot rescue sinners from the," quote, 'domain of darkness.' (Colossians 1:13), or transform believers into Christ's likeness. Such weapons gain only superficial, temporary and deceptive victories at best. To successfully fight the spiritual war requires weapons from the heavenly arsenal." 

Well, Paul understood this, and he was a skilled swordsman. Notice how he closes the section, “...and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..." The obedience of Christ is just a synonym for salvation. It's interesting, ancient monarchs would take captive prisoners back to their homeland away from, in other words, back to the conquering armies’homeland; take them out of the place where their prisoners once lived. And isn't that what God does with us? When we come to saving faith in Christ, he removes us from the realm of all ofthe lies that we believed. He rescues us from the domain of darkness and transfers us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. And there we begin to bask in the glory of the lover of our souls. We live in a different land, right? We're citizens of another kingdom. That's what Paul is saying here, "...we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Spurgeon put it this way, "Now, when the Lord captivates the thoughts of our mind, He leads them away, conducting them to another region altogether. The offspring of the mind, He guides him to the spiritual realm, wherein they delight in the Lord and bow themselves before Him. Let us see this procession of captives led away to grace, the triumph of the conqueror, and to settle them down in another region under another king, then they ever knew before. From the highest to the lowest, all the faculties of the soul are made to pass under the yoke." And then he says this, "He, who being made conscious of his sin, believes in Jesus Christ, submits all of the thoughts of his judgment and understanding to the obedience of Christ." And those of us who know, and love Christ can understand that even though it defies reason. 

And then Paul concludes, saying, "...and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." In other words, he's wanting to give them time to repent, before he came and had to exert his apostolic authority. Now, of course, many people today will hear that and say, oh my goodness, how silly, how politically and religiously incorrect. How offensive to non-Christians; how irrational. But isn't that exactly the way we used to think before we came to Christ, before he led us captive to his obedience. When that happens, our thoughts are no longer captive to satanic lies. Those fortresses get torn down. Suddenly and increasingly, our thoughts are captive to the saving and transforming truths of Christ revealed in Scripture. Suddenly, reason begins to yield to supernatural truth revealed by God Himself, something that we could have never come up with on our own our own. Suddenly, we begin to understand and embrace the great doctrines of God causing our hearts to just absolutely soar with joy in the realm of his kingdom and causing us to longed to be in his presence. And dear friends, all of this happened, because of the divine weaponry available to the redeemed--the word of God, and the power of his Spirit. And the prayer of those, I long to see men and women and boys and girls come to saving faith in Christ. 

Well, I trust you are now better armed for combat. I pray that you are better prepared for supernatural soldiering, and I hope you will just examine your heart and say, really, as I look at my life, is it characterized by patient endurance? Or do I tend to be kind of this fly off the handle hothead type of a person? If so, that's not honoring to Christ, and the Lord can't use me, I need to deal with that. Is my life characterized with a courageous confidence, knowing that I belong to the King, knowing that I am indwelt by the Spirit of God, knowing that I have available, to me, all of the resources of Christ, to whom I am eternally united. Does that give me courage to face overwhelming odds, knowing that out of the 1000s of mockers, that may be spitting at me, when I preach the gospel, there will be--maybe one, maybe two--that the Spirit will convict, and they will believe? Do I believe that? Do I have that courageous confidence? 

And finally, am I a skilled swordsman? Do I have the ability to effectively wield the sword of the Spirit? Well, I trust that these are all virtues in your life, and that by the power of the Spirit, they will continue to grow so that we can be even more effective in the spiritual war, knowing that the victory has already been won, right? It was won at the cross, we're just waiting for the triumph. So folks, take heart and rejoice. Let's pray together. 

Father, thank You for the magnificent truths that you reveal to us, they are so practical. We can see ourselves; we can see the battle. We can see the divine weaponry that caused those fortresses in which we were incarcerated to come tumbling down. Lord, we thank you for those who have gone on before us, who prayed for our salvation and who gave us the gospel. Our grandparents, our parents, our mothers, our fathers. Lord, so many people, Sunday school teachers, whatever they were, Lord, thank you for saving us by your grace. Thank you for the confidence that is ours in Christ. For it's in his name I pray. Amen.